Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
Study Question: How do women experience attempts to become pregnant, and the first years of motherhood, after uterus transplantation (UTx)?
Summary Answer: Women who try to become pregnant after UTx experience the general strains typically associated with infertility and childlessness, such as failure of embryo transfer (ET), and specific worries about graft survival but when they become mothers they essentially feel like other mothers, with the associated rewards and stresses.
What is Known Already: UTx has proven to be a successful treatment for absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI). Although UTx seems to have a positive effect on self-image there is a lack of knowledge about how women who have received uterine grafts experience pregnancy attempts, pregnancy itself and the first years of motherhood.
Study Design, Size, Duration: This prospective cohort study included the seven participants in the first UTx trial who had experienced surgically successful grafts. Pregnancy was attempted using ET 12 months after transplantation. Structured interviews were performed once a year for 5 years after transplantation.
Participants/Materials, Setting, Methods:Six of the seven participants (mean age 29.3 years at UTx) had AUFI owing to the congenital absence of the uterus, while the seventh woman had undergone a hysterectomy. Post-transplantation, yearly interviews (2013–2018) were performed, comprising a total of 34 interviews. Interview data were analysed thematically.
